


Strawberry and Hollow

by Demonized



Category: Bleach
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:20:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25828078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demonized/pseuds/Demonized
Summary: King finally knows the truth. About his heritage. About the old man. About what Zangetsu himself truly is…King finally knows and hasn't really said much of anything on the matter aside from declaring that he will fight on his own. Yeah, there's just a bit more to it than just that but Zangetsu lingers on that part in particular, if only because King is an idiot if he thinks that he'll be fighting on his own. He has both of them after all.
Relationships: Hollow Ichigo | Zangetsu/Kurosaki Ichigo
Comments: 3
Kudos: 76





	1. A New Understanding 01

King finally knows the truth. About his heritage. About the old man. About what Zangetsu himself truly is…

King finally knows and hasn't really said much of anything on the matter aside from declaring that he will fight on his own. Yeah, there's just a bit more to it than just that but Zangetsu lingers on that part in particular, if only because King is an idiot if he thinks that he'll be fighting on his own. He has both of them after all.

Now if King will only spare him a moment so that Zangetsu can beat it into that thick skull of his. Seems like it's too much to ask of him, however, at least for the moment. He's got too much shit to deal with right now, and Zangetsu is content enough to silently lend him his support. King has earned that much from him.

"Whatever ya need, aibō," Zangetsu murmurs, and he settles down on one of the many skyscrapers that make up their shared inner world. He astutely ignores the old man as he appears in his periphery, seeing as he's the main reason why it's taken King so long to learn the truth. Well, he's one of them, anyway, and Zangetsu certainly hadn't done himself any favors in that regard either, but he blames the old man the most.

"I only wished to keep Ichigo safe," the old man states plainly, and Zangetsu can't suppress the irritation and anger that surges through him.

"Don't give me tha' crap," Zangetsu snarls, his reiatsu flaring as he twists to glare at the spirit that represents King's Quincy powers. "King wouldn'a been safe from th' hollows nor the Shinigami nor these damn Quincies. He'd a been helpless if ya had yer way."

The old man remains silent and bows his head while he averts his gaze from Zangetsu as if to say that he's right. He damn well knows that he is.

"Now tha' King knows th' truth, ya better believe I ain't gonna let ya suppress me ever again," Zangetsu grits out with another flare of his reiatsu.

"I have no such intentions anymore, Zangetsu. Ichigo will need both of us to get through what lies ahead," the old man says in a grave tone and lifts his gaze to meet Zangetsu's own. There's a fierce determination there that not even the old man's favorite sunglasses can hide, and his reiatsu flares out to match Zangetsu's.

"Will both of you stop?!" King's voice rings out sharply from in front of them, surprising both of them. They turn to look at the same time, and there he is in all of his glory with a scowl to boot. "You're giving me a headache," he adds as he scowls at each of them in turn.

"My apologies, Ichigo," the old man says with a bow of his head, and he lets his reiatsu recede.

"Tch." Zangetsu gives a scowl of his own and crosses his arms over his chest as he looks away from King, not caring if it makes him seem petulant. He's not going to apologize but he does reign in his reiatsu.

King sighs softly and the weight of his gaze shifts away from Zangetsu. "Can you give us a moment, Ossan?"

"As you wish, Ichigo," the old man says as he vanishes from the surface of their shared inner world, leaving King alone with him.

"Ya should be out there fightin' th' Quincies," Zangetsu gripes while he keenly avoids looking at King.

"Well, I have to wait until the Zero Division is done preparing us for the trip back down to Seireitei," King responds in a soft tone, and with a rustle of fabrics he sits down in front of Zangetsu. "And besides, we need to talk and there isn't going to be time for that later."

"There ain't nothin' fer us t' talk 'bout." At least not whatever it is that King seems to have in mind. It is, however, a good time for Zangetsu to give King that beating to remind him that he's not alone, but-

"Zangetsu…"

Zangetsu closes his eyes as his name leaves King's lips and he exhales slowly while a sense of peace sweeps over him. It's truly something else to have King addressing him by his name.


	2. A New Understanding 02

Ichigo goes quiet at the look of pure joy and contentment that appears on the hollowfied Zanpakutō spirit's face just from calling him by his name, and guilt worms its way through his heart. Zangetsu had tried to tell him before, back when Ichigo had to face him and get him under control with help from the Visored, but Ichigo hadn't believed him then–hadn't wanted to believe him at all. Worse yet, Ichigo had only thought of Zangetsu as something to use as if he had been nothing more than a tool, making him no better than Kenpachi when they had first met.

"Stop tha'," Zangetsu says abruptly and in a sharp tone, snapping Ichigo out of his thoughts. The hollowfied Zanpakutō spirit still isn't looking at him but he's scowling now. "Ya ruined th' moment," he adds with a huff and opens his eyes, the silver of his irises glinting as he finally looks toward Ichigo.

"Sorry," Ichigo says almost reflexively and he grimaces as Zangetsu narrows his eyes into a glare. "No, really, I am. I-"

"It's fine, King," Zangetsu interrupts in a tone that reeks of exasperation. "I'm not gonna hold any of it against ya because a lot of it wasn't yer fault. Ya can't help what ya didn't know, and if ya want someone t' blame fer that then ya can blame the old man, or yer pops or even geta-bōshi. They were th' ones keepin' ya in th' dark fer so long."

"Ignorance doesn't excuse the fact that I refused to believe you when you tried to tell me the truth," Ichigo admits softly and bows his head as he looks down at his lap where his fingers have started twisting into the fabric of his hakama. "If I had known sooner…"

"Ya know they wouldn'a told ya anythin' 'bout yer origins any sooner, so dwellin' on th' what-ifs won't do ya any good. All ya can do is move forward." Zangetsu is right, of course, but it doesn't change how Ichigo feels. If anything, it makes him feel worse. As if sensing this Zangetsu sighs and then there's a whisper of rustling fabric followed by-

"Ow!" Ichigo jerks back as pain erupts in the center of his forehead, his eyes squeezing shut in reaction. He reaches up and rubs his finger over the spot, forcing one eye open to glare at Zangetsu. "What the hell was that for?"

" _That_ was fer being yer usual broody self an' makin' it cloudy in here again," Zangetsu answers flatly as he motions towards the sky above them. "I hate th' rain too, King, and it rains in here more often than not."

Ichigo spares a glance up at the sky that is now mottled with clouds, their bottoms a light grey at the moment. He frowns and rubs at his forehead again, the pain subsiding quickly enough. "You didn't need to pluck me," he all but grumbles as he shifts his gaze back to Zangetsu.

"Sure I did, King," Zangetsu responds with a slight smirk, his irises glinting again. "It's better'n me kickin' yer ass fer thinkin' yer gonna be fighting those damn Quincies on yer own. Ya have yer friends, ya have th' old man, and-"

"I have you too, Zangetsu," Ichigo says softly as he lets his hand drop back down to his lap, both eyes open now. "You're right."

"'Course I'm right, King," Zangetsu says a little too boastfully and his smirk widens into a grin that shows his teeth. "Now get goin'."

"We're not done talking," Ichigo points out with a faint frown.

"Yeah, we are," Zangetsu says with an air of finality, and Ichigo is promptly ejected from his inner world before he can argue with the hollowfied Zanpakutō spirit any further.

Ichigo comes back to his body and frowns down at the black Khyber charay laying across his lap. He's not satisfied with leaving their conversation, or whatever the hell it's supposed to be, unfinished but he gets the distinct feeling that pressing for more will only end up with him and Zangetsu fighting. He doesn't want to fight with him, at least not how they've fought before, but Zangetsu also seems to not want to talk with him either. At least not with words.

"Stubborn," Ichigo mutters under his breath as he traces a finger along Zangetsu's spine. He stops once he reaches the tang, which still needs to be properly wrapped, and sighs. If it's the only way to convey everything that he wants to say to Zangetsu then there's really no other choice. Letting his hand come to rest over part of the hollowed out portion of Zangetsu, Ichigo sinks back into jinzen.


	3. A New Understanding 03

Zangetsu tries to not scowl as King reappears standing in front him barely a minute after he'd ejected him from their shared inner world. That King has _his_ blade drawn doesn't go unnoticed but he ignores what it implies for the time being. "I thought I told ya t' get goin'."

"You did, but I didn't feel like listening to you," King says as he hefts the khyber charay up to point it at him. "'Cause I wasn't done talking," he adds, almost as an afterthought.

Zangetsu leans back, settling his weight onto his palms, and arches a brow as he looks at King past the point of the khyber charay now in his face. "So yer gonna hold me at sword point t' get me t' talk with ya?"

"No, nothing like that," King answers with a faint smile, the warm brown of his irises becoming mottled with brilliant gold.

It's thrilling to watch the small changes in King's appearance as he draws on their hollow reiryoku, and now Zangetsu is looking forward to the fight that King seems intent to have. He wants to know just how far King will go now that he has full access to his powers, especially now that King feels so comfortable with them.

"I'm afraid ya have me at a disadvantage, King," Zangetsu complains in an effort to see if King will back off. He doesn't.

"You have never been at a disadvantage, Zangetsu. Not when you were the hollow that attacked my parents, and not when Ossan was suppressing you," King says in a low voice that sends a pleasant shiver up Zangetsu's spine.

"White. Aizen called me White." It had been a name wrought with metaphor and irony considering his appearance at that time but now it's quite literal. Oh, if only Aizen could see him now.

King gets the most peculiar look on his face, the tip of the khyber charay lowering just a hairsbreadth, as he looks Zangetsu over. "It's kinda literal now but I think it still suits you," he says after a moment of consideration, that peculiar look still there. "You're White Zangetsu."

Yes, it's incredibly literal, and just throwing the two names together shouldn't do anything but it _does_. The khyber charay turns pure white and Zangetsu inhales sharply as King's appearance changes with the shift in the blade's color.

His fingers itch to touch the thick black streak that runs down the left side of King's face, to follow it with his fingertips from his hairline down over his eye—the iris now a glowing gold surrounded by inky black—where it slants down his cheek, continues over his jaw and goes down his neck to disappear under his shihakushō. He wants to see if it continues on, or if there are more marks like this anywhere else on King's skin, and, oh, does he want to touch, and _taste_ , and-

He quashes the urges before they become too much, if only because he thinks that King won't respond to them well no matter what type of understanding they've reached, and instead shifts his focus to the long, white, forward-pointing horn that juts out of King's hair just above his temple. It suits him far better than any crown ever could, and really… This is such a torment.

Oh well. He'll just settle for looking at King.

King's attention is on the khyber charay because he notices the change in its color first, and he lifts it up, away from Zangetsu's face, to examine it. He turns the blade in his hand and, amusingly enough, tilts his head to the left as he looks it over. It's just enough to draw Zangetsu's attention back to the streak of black and that it actually splits off above his eyebrow to run down the side of his nose where tapers off to a point. King must feel the weight of his stare because he looks back at Zangetsu and blinks. "What?"

"Just admirin' yer new look," Zangetsu answers honestly and he relishes in the surprise that flits across King's face, followed by an ample amount of confusion.

"Huh? My new look?" King blinks again then instinctually reaches up to feel his face for the mask. "What do you…" His voice trails off as he finds the horn instead, and he slowly traces it with his fingertips with a look of curiosity. It quickly turns into a look of realization as he recognizes the horn for what it is, and then he surprises Zangetsu by smiling.

**Author's Note:**

> I've started up a discord server called The Desk! It's not fandom specific and meant to be a place for artists, writers and people who enjoy their works across various fandoms to come together. To get to The Desk simply go [here](https://discord.gg/jXZQDdf)


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